Iraq veteran, then police officer, denied surgery?

Army veteran and St. Louis police officer needs back surgery; denied by health insurance
KSDK NBC 5 News
Author: Rachel Menitoff
August 16, 2018

"I can't play with them. I can't wrestle with them. I can't throw the ball with them. I just can't do those things. This gives me a chance to do that. At least, it gives me a solution going forward."

ST. LOUIS — He was a patriot, fighting in Iraq, then became a police officer. He has numerous awards and medals, but he’s also a dad.

He can't even play with his sons because his pain is so severe, pain he got serving his country and community.

Timothy Nolan has had back problems throughout his life. He has a degenerative condition. And he was used to a lot of physical work as an infantry team leader in Iraq, and most recently as a St. Louis police officer.
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UPDATE from Louisiana, another veteran is fighting after he served in the Navy and then as a Sheriff's Deputy!

Vietnam veteran files federal lawsuit against Louisiana VA office director
Lafayette Daily Advertiser
Leigh Guidry
August 17, 2018

A veteran in Lake Charles filed a federal lawsuit against the Louisiana Veterans Affairs regional office director.

George Jackson, 76, lives in Lake Charles with his wife, Helene. On Thursday, she and a veterans advocate went to the U.S. District Court Western District of Louisiana to file the lawsuit against Mark Bologna.

Jackson, the plaintiff, stayed at their home.

"I'm here because my husband, George Jackson, can't be here," she told media Friday.

Jackson is considered tetraplegic, having lost the use of his limbs. He can still move them slightly but he has no strength. He splits his time between a hospital bed in his home and his electric wheelchair.

The Lake Charles native served 30 years in the U.S. Navy, climbing ladders, crouching, lifting heavy things and performing other jobs on ships. He was aboard wooden ships used to sweep rivers for mines during two tours in Vietnam.

"Most of my job was on ships ... 30 years of going up and down ladders," he said.

But he doesn't regret joining the Navy, he said. It was always his dream.

"That's the only thing I really wanted to do," Jackson said. "I watched Navy movies on TV. In first grade, I looked out the window, and I always wanted to be a sailor."

So he joined once he was old enough "and I put 31 years in the military."
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